Shayba, Old-Woman. $AB1 Alternate meanings:{Queen}.
[to Whom the tenth day of June, day 161, is dedicated]
Geography/Culture: Saudi Arabia: Pre-Islamic Arabian. Linguistic Note: the language of Her name is perhaps Aramaic. {Compiler's Note: Although there is not much to know of Her under this form of Her name, Shayba was choosen as the Goddess of this day in preference to the Goddess Sheba under the assumption -- incorrect? -- that the pronunciation given for Shayba is closer to how Her name is/was pronounced by Her original worshippers.} Description: Great Goddess; She Whose spirit dwells in the Kaaba.
Titles/Variants, etc:
See also Menat, Who may Herself be another form of the Kaaba..
Shayba's name may be etymologically related to Sheba, or just a different transliteration of the Arabic, below.
Geography/Culture: Saudi Arabia: Yemen. Aramaen. Arabic-Aramaean.
Sheba is approximately, 17n x 43e. There's a probability that the state or the tribe was further north in Solomon's time. Solomon ruled c. 960 to 930 BC. Biblical record in I Kings, c. 535 BC. Linguistic Note: Anglecized from Arabic Säbä. Perhaps related to Assyrian shebu, 'the head of a family', fomerly a matriarch, later a tribal elder of either sex. {Compiler's Note But Assyria is a long way from Sheba. It has been said that Sheba was the land-name and Goddess-name of Arabian Queens in the ancient seat of government, Marib, in southern Arabia (now Yemen). I've not been able to find confirmation of land-name, it's more likely Säbä refers to a tribal rather than a geographical entity, nor do I find confirmation of Säbä as a Goddess-name equaling Arabian Queens}. Description: Great Goddess of providence, the land, and the sun (probably not the moon); Queen of the South; She Who is perhaps incarnate in Arabian Queens, and if so especially represented by the Sheban Queen Who visited Solomon; Bestower of sovereignty; Eponym of Sheba (Säbä). To Whom Sacred: throne; Sabaens, (ie: Shebans -- Her sacred prostitute priestesses {but I think Sabaens is a term for the people of Saba}); Mukarrib, Kindred-of-the-Moon (Her priests {or the princes who ruled Marib}). Male Associates: in Her mortal forms She took mortal king/consorts: such as Solomon, of Jerusalem. {Or the miraculous transport of Her throne may signify male usurpation of Her throne as some have suggested}.
Titles/Variants, etc:
She is associated with nudity: Bath-Sheba, Daughter-of-Sheba, married King David after he saw Her naked in Her bath, and killed Her previous husband, Uriah, the Hittite.
In Muslim tradition She is known as Bilqis, below.
In some tradtions Her proper name was Candace, see below.
See also Fatima {perhaps} for another Arabian Goddess.
Geography/Culture: Saudi Arabia: Marib.
This is the Queen of Sheba's name in Muslim tradition. Under this name She is mentioned in the Qur'ân (Koran), final written form mid 7th c. AD. Description: Queen of Säbä; She to Whom everything has been given. To Whom Sacred: hoopoe (Her hoopoe told Solomon's hoopoe of Her splendor); magnificent throne. Male Associates: Traditionally Solomon.
Titles/Variants, etc:
Transliteration variant: Balkis.
Variant: Balqama.
Variant: Belqis.
Could there be a connection between Her and Beltis?
Geography/Culture: Africa: Ethiopia, Nubian desert.
There is a Biblical mention of Her in Acts. For at least 800 years Candace was the name or title of the hereditary Queens of the desert empire of Nubia. Description: Queen of the Ethiopians; She Who governs the Nubian states; hereditary title of Queens. Male Associates: Nubian Kings (who were ritually slain). Regicide was still the custom of Nubian Kassites of the Upper Nile in the 1st century BC. Source: Monaghan BGH 56; Walker WEMS 503.
Shebat, ----. $AB*T
Geography/Culture: Mesopotamia. Description: Moon-goddess (a variant of Hebat or Eve); perhaps Eponym of the month named after her. Source: WEMS.
worked on: June 9, 1990; July 30, 1991; August 9, 1991; May, June 1995.
Return to the top of this document.